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This year the Jura wine festival takes place in Salins les Bains. We are
offering a weekend special of 2 nights bed and breakfast plus a special
Tasting Dinner with food and wines from the Jura at €80 per person.
Contact us for all the details.
A series of events for all the family including night time parades of coloured floats the "Gross Tetes", music and concerts at the Colliseum. See www.carnavaldechalon.com for more details.
The whole village is "en fete" for this event, smaller but just as much fun as the Beaune Hospice auction (see November)
Winemakers from all over the region gather to show their wares. See www.macon-tourism.com for more details.
Balloonists from all over the world come to fly here, especially for the early morning flight over the vineyards.
See www.chalon-sur-saone.net for more details as they become available.
See the World’s greatest sporting event in the flesh! Three stages of the Tour pass through this region. Chablis to Autun on the 12th, Semur en Auxois to Bourg en Bresse on the 13th and Bourg en Bresse to Le Grande Bornand on the 14th, marking the start of the mountain stages.
A fun and educational evening in the beautiful village of Chateau Chalon. Learn about Jura wines from the winemakers themselves, and have fun tasting them at the same time!
Eastern France is not a hotbed of Rugby but you can see some of the pool games at either Lyon or St Etienne. 8th Sept - 14th Sept features 4 games, 3 at Lyon & 1 at St. Etienne including matches featuring Australia, Scotland and a team that plays in Black kit. 26th Sept & 29th Sept have games in St. Etienne, the match on the 29th being Scotland against Italy which could well be crucial. For further information try www.rugbyworldcup.com. You could even use us as a handy stopping off point for matches in the South of France, e.g. Marseille should you wish. We could even be persuaded to give you a lift to various railway stations in the area (and even pick you up as well) should you wish to base yourselves here.
Starting in the Beaujolais and moving up towards Chablis the vineyards are a hive of activity as the grapes are all carefully picked by hand - back breaking work to do, but fun to watch for those of you with a sadistic streak. The Jura growers usually pick later, in late September to very early October.
Celebrate the end of the grape harvest to the sound of hunting horns and starting with a great tasting of the new wine in the porch of St Vincent’s Cathedral and square in Chalon, followed on Sunday by one of the villages in the Cote Chalonnais opening it’s cellars to all.
A must for all "gourmets and gourmands"!
One second past midnight on the third Thursday in November in the centre of Beaujeu - it’s just like New Year’s Eve with free wine!
The whole town joins in this spectacle, with torchlight parades, bands and orchestras from all over the world, food and wine stalls and shopkeepers in 16th century costumes - and of course, wine tasting! Mulled wine, to keep out the cold, is on sale at various points around the town.
The best way to choose the Christmas Turkey as all the very best of the Bresse competes to be the best of the best! Beats the freezer section at Tesco’s any day! www.bresse-bourguignonne.com for more details as they become available.
A lot of the larger French towns have their own Christmas Market and those within range include Chalon sur Saone, Macon & Dijon. The town of Montbeliard (about 90 miles away) has an absolutely stunning lights display which together with it’s market is well worth the trip. You could possibly team it up with a trip to Besancon for the earlier part of the day.
These events have run for the past few years but no guarantee
can be given that they will feature this year. Please contact
us if there is a specific event that you are interested in and
we will endeavour to confirm dates, and availability.
Generally quite a quiet month. The winter sports season
is just beginning in the Alps and Jura with all that that brings.
The major ski stations in the Chamonix and Megeve areas are
within easy reach as well as the less well known Jura stations.
There are Wine Festivals in St. Bris le Vineau (near Auxerre)
and Mercurey (near Chalon sur Saone) as well as several villages
celebrating St. Vincent, the Patron Saint of vintners on or
around the 22nd.
The start of the month sees one of the big days in the Jura Wine calendar.
The Perce de Vin Jaune (in 2005 at St Lothain, which is about 20 miles from us)
is the release of the new vintage of this highly
individual wine. It is at least six years old on it's release and is
sold in 62cl bottles, despite an EU ruling, Tradition has it that each
barrel should give 100 bottles and whilst 75 litres went into the barrel,
over the 6 years maturing process only 62 come out! A handy web site
for further information is www.jura-vins.com.
At the end of the month it's Carnaval time in Chalon sur Saone. Street
entertainment and all things associated.
A Festival Gourmand at Marsannay le Cote (near Dijon
and the start of the Route de Grand Crus) as well as a Wine
Auction at Nuits St. Georges are usually in the early part of
the month. The latter part is fairly free of events but the
local Faire de Renouveau (Spring Fair) at St Germain du Bois
is held near the end of March.
A bit of a wine buffs months with wine fairs all over
the place. Some distant, Montbard and Tonnerre (if you go make
a point of visiting Le Fosse Dion). Some nearer, the villages
of Vire and Clesse (between Macon and Tournus) combine. Some
near, Givry (near Chalon sur Saone) and Lons le Saunier provide
plenty of scope and different types of wine. An Antiques fair
in Nolay (near Beaune) provides a sober aspect to the month.
A Festival Gourmand in Saulieu is always a high point.
Saulieu was the home village of Bernard Loiseau, one of the
few chefs to have two Michelin three star restaurants featuring
in the guide at the same time, until his unfortunate death in
2003. Wine fairs in Macon and Savigny could provide an antidote
to the Cheese fair at Epoisses. Here is the home of one of the
strongest cheeses in France, in fact so strong that it is illegal
to take it on Public Transport! Pentecost (either end of May
or Early June) is the time of the Dole Pentecost Fair with cultural
events, street theatre, fireworks etc. and the Montgolfiades,
a big Balloon Fair at Chalon sur Saone.
A major Jazz/Blues festival at Le Creusot dominates the
month which along with another music festival in Dijon is fairly
wine free. Most of the local producers are gearing up towards
the grape harvest and will only sell from their own properties..
For those with a golfing interest the Evian Ladies Masters takes
place in Evian at the end of June.
Where to start? Suffice to say that the range of Fairs, Festivals,
markets, celebrations, concerts, demonstrations and the like
that happens in this area over the months of July and August
is immense. From the Baroque Music Festival at Beaune, through
the Festival de Grand Crus (website www.francefestivals.com)
to the Folk Festival in Dijon (website www.folkloriades.org)
all kinds of musical tastes are catered for. The Foire de Balme
is a fair that has been held for centuries on the last weekend
in August. The Saturday is dominated by horses and you'd better
be careful whislt watching the auctions! Further afield the
wonderful fair in Geneva always ends in an absolutely stunning
firework display. Smaller but still impressive displays abound
on July 14th. 2003's in St. Germain du Bois was really excellent.
More music, with major festivals in Lyon and Besancon.
Bletterans, just over the border in Jura has its annual fair
this month, whilst there are wine fairs in Chenove (near Dijon)
and Arbois, the capital of the Jura wine making industry. As
a counter to all of this culture and wine try the Onion fair
at Pluvet (near Dijon).
Less music now and more wine. The grape harvest is
in and now is the time to show off. The major fairs are at Beaune,
Chalon sur Saone and Auxey-Duresses (near Beaune) For something
different the Liqueur Wine festival at St. Trivire des Courtes
(near Tournus) might be worth a visit. If you're feeling hungry
the the cheese fair at Nancray (near Besancon), the apple fair
at Sellieres (near Bletterans) or the walnut and chestnut fair
at Cuiseaux might attract your attention.
As well as the wine festivals in Auxerre and Chablis
this is the month of the two biggies. At midnight on the third
Thursday of November the village of Beaujeu (near Macon) explodes
with noise, fireworks and wine as the Beaujolais Nouveau is
released. The signal for festivities to start is a firework
display at 2300 in the next village from where thousands of
people walk, carrying flaming torches , to be ready for midnight.
The party goes on for quite a while. In contrast the Hospices
de Beaune wine auction and the Trois Glorieueses wine fair,
usually held the weekend before or after Beaujeu, are much more
sedate, dare we say, sober, affairs. The town square is given
over to market stalls and there is music in the evenings. Wine
tastings go on all over the town and if you wish to eat in a
local restaurant you'd better book early.
Christmas markets abound, Dijon & Lyon being
a couple of the major ones. The small town of Montbeliard (near
Besancon) has a really wonderful market throughout the period
approaching Christmas with lots of lights, and plenty of stalls
selling all kinds of festive items along with hot food and hot
wine to keep out the nights chill. There is a smaller one in
Chalon sur Saone and most of the small towns will have one over
one of the weekends approaching Christmas. From the 5th to the
8th Lyon has a light display which is truly amazing. Various
sites around the city are lit, some to music and on the 8th
it is tradition that all of the houses in the city will display
lit candles from their windowsills. Specific to the region of
Bresse are the 4 Glorieuses which are major celebrations of
the art and science of raising Poultry. Bresse is renowned for
its poultry, which is considered the best in France (and therefore
the world) and these fairs are the high point of the year. The
motto of the Bresse region is "Taste the difference"
and you definitely can.
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